Invitation for the 8th Interactive Seminar on 'Floods: Preparedness, Rescue, Relief & Rehabilitation' on being organised on Tuesday, 21st October, 2008 at 6.15 pm. This is a part of the Seminar Series (Bimonthly) on Climate Change in Collaboration with the India Habitat Centre launched on 4th June, 2007

Dear Friends,

The Oceanic Group (TOG), a non profit society with special focus on awareness building on Environment & Health issues had launched an Interactive Seminar Series (Bimonthly) on Climate Change (CC) on 4 June 2007 in collaboration with the India Habitat Centre (IHC).

The 8th Interactive Seminar, 'Floods: Preparedness, Rescue, Relief & Rehabilitation' is scheduled to take place on 21st October, 2008 at 6.15 pm at the Gulmohar Hall, India Habitat Centre. The Chairperson is Dr Mohan Kanda, Member, National Disaster Management Authority. The other Distinguished Speaker are Prof Chandan Ghosh, Head, Geo Hazards, NIDM, Prof Rajiv Sinha, Geosciences, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Mr Himanshu Thakkar, Coordinator, South Asian Network on Dams, Rivers & People (SANDRP) & Dr RB Singh, Department of Geography, Delhi University & Secretary General, National Association of Geographers, India. Mr Nitish Mishra, Minister of State (Independent Charge), Disaster Management, Govt of Bihar is the Special Guest.We have a Distinguished Speakers and a Chairperson who Chairs the programme and introduces the speakers. This will be followed by Discussion / Q & A session. The Concluding Address along with the Actionplan is delivered by a prominent figure. The programme would roughly be of 100 minute duration and will start with tea and informal interaction with media and guests at 6.15 pm.

We have also formed a High Profile Core Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development of prominent leaders, scientists and scholars, officers, corporates, NGOs and media persons to combat climate change and strive to achieve sustainable development. Prof Syed Hasnain, Mr DD Verma, Principal Secretary, Cooperative, Uttar Pradesh, Dr MA Haque, Director, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Mr Tarun Coomar, Senior Indian Forest Service Officer, Dr RB Singh, Department of Geography, Delhi University, Mr Ramesh Kumar, Managing Director, Beltron Communication Limited, Prof Ashok Ghosh, Incharge, Department of Environment and Water Management, AN College, Patna, Mr Ashok Sharma, Senior Journalist, The Financial Express and Mr Yogendra Bali, Senior Journalist are the Distinguished Members. Confirmation is still awaited from some other leading people of all these sectors.

The seventh seminar of the series, 'Renewable Energy and Climate Change' was held on 5th August, 2008 A Brief Status Paper on Renewable Energy and Climate Change by Ms Alexis Ringwald, former Fulbright scholar was also released on this occasion. Dr Muhammad Mukhtar Alam, Executive Director Centre for Ecological Audit, Social Inclusion and Governance was the distinguished speaker. Mr David Moosa Pidcock, a technologist with London based Technology Relocation services and Safe Energy Devises and System (SEEDS) delivered the Special Address. Dr. PP Sangal, former director of Central Statistical Organisation presented the Actionplan. The session was chaired by Prof Anand Patwardhan, Executive Director, Technology Information Forecasting & Assessment Council (TIFAC).

The book 'Local Environmental Governance in India' published by Lead India in collaboration with the British High Commission was also released in fourth seminar. Films Global Warning by Ramesh Menon and A Fable from the Himalayas by Nitin Das were screened during the Fifth and Sixth Seminars.

All the seminars have been a great success. We had not only a large and intellectual audience but the program also got good media coverage. The programme was attended by Senior Government officials and policymaker, NGOs, mediapersons, scholars in the field of environment and the members of civil society.

We plan to take forward the awareness and interaction based programmes to schools & colleges and further down to community in the urban and rural areas in the next few weeks. These will be followed up with action to combat Climate Change simultaneously.